Little people, big dreams
When Amelia was young, she liked to imagine she could stretch her wings and fly away like a bird. As a grown woman, she set a new female world record for flying up to 14,000 feet. She also flew across the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, and eventually undertook the most dangerous...
2) Coco Chanel
3) Frida Kahlo
When Frida was a teenager, a terrible road accident changed her life forever. Unable to walk, she began painting from her bed. Her self-portraits, which show her pain and grief, but also her passion for life and instinct for survival, have made her one of the most famous artists...
4) Maya Angelou
In this international bestseller from the critically acclaimed Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the incredible life of Maya Angelou, the powerful speaker, writer, and civil rights activist.
Maya Angelou spent much of her childhood in Stamps, Arkansas. After a traumatic event at age eight, she stopped speaking for five years. However, Maya rediscovered her voice through wonderful books, and went on to become one of the world's
7) Marie Curie
When Marie was young, she was unable to go to college because she was a woman. But when she was older, her scientific work was respected around the world. Her discoveries of radium and polonium dramatically helped in the fight against cancer, and she went on to win...
8) Rosa Parks
In this book from the highly acclaimed Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the incredible life of Rosa Parks, the "Mother of the Freedom Movement."
Rosa Parks grew up in Alabama, where she learned to stand up for herself at an early age. Rosa went on to become a civil rights activist. In 1955, she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated bus, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Her courageous decision had
9) Ada Lovelace
10) Anne Frank
Anne Frank was born in Germany to a loving family. But when World War II broke out, Anne and her family had to hide in a secret annex in Amsterdam. Here, Anne wrote her famous diary, describing her belief in people's goodness and her hopes for peace. After the war, her...
11) Audrey Hepburn
12) Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald grew up near...
13) Georgia O'Keeffe
14) Harriet Tubman
Little Harriet was born into slavery on a plantation in Maryland. Though life was hard, Harriet persisted. She used all of her strength and bravery to escape slavery and journey north on the Underground Railroad. Harriet made the dangerous mission back...
15) Jane Austen
Little Jane was born into a large family with seven brothers and sisters. She grew up reading and writing stories in the English countryside. As an adult, she wrote witty commentaries about landed gentry in a way that no one had ever done before, portraying young women who bravely...
16) Jane Goodall
17) Josephine Baker
18) L. M. Montgomery
Born in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, Lucy Maud Montgomery lost her mother when she was very young. Left in the care of less-than-encouraging grandparents, she found comfort in reading, writing, and her imagination. When Maud grew up, she wrote...
19) Mother Teresa
Agnes (later to become Mother Teresa) was born in Skopje, Macedonia. She was raised to love God and love others above all else, and from an early age, she knew she wanted to dedicate herself to religion, so she became a nun. She was fascinated by stories of missionaries...
21) Bruce Lee
Born in San Francisco but raised in Hong Kong, Bruce Lee was the child star of Hong Kong cinema. But, after getting into trouble as a teenager, his father sent him to live in America. Starring roles were hard to come by for Asian-American actors in Hollywood,...
22) David Bowie
23) Dolly Parton
24) Mahatma Gandhi
As a young teenager in India, Gandhi led a rebellious life and went against his parents' values. But as a young man, he started to form beliefs of his own that harked back to the Hindu principles of his childhood. Gandhi began to dream of unity for all peoples and religions....
25) Maria Montessori
26) Mary Shelley
27) Muhammad Ali
When he was little, Muhammad Ali had his bicycle stolen. He wanted to fight the thief, but a policeman told him him to learn how to box first. After training hard in the gym, Muhammad developed a strong jab and an even stronger work ethic. His smart...
28) Rudolf Nureyev
29) Stephen Hawking
When Stephen Hawking was a little boy, he used to stare up at the stars and wonder about the universe. Although he was never top of the class, his curiosity took him to the best universities in England: Oxford and Cambridge. It also led him to make one of the...
31) Wilma Rudolph
32) Zaha Hadid
Part of the critically acclaimed Little People, BIG DREAMS series, Zaha Hadid tells the inspiring true story of the visionary Iraqi-British architect.
Zaha Hadid grew up in Baghdad, Iraq, surrounded by music. She was a curious and confident child, who designed her own modernist bedroom at nine years old. As a young woman studying at University in Beirut, she was described as the most outstanding pupil the teacher had ever met.
33) Alan Turing
Alan grew up in England, where his best friends were numbers and a little boy called Christopher. When his young friend died, Alan retreated to the world of numbers and codes, where he discovered how...
37) Bob Dylan
39) Corazon Aquino
44) Greta Thunberg
When young Greta learned of the climate crisis, she stopped talking. She couldn't understand why people in power were not doing anything to save our Earth. One day she started protesting outside the Swedish Parliament, creating the 'School Strike for...
47) John Lennon
Little Martin grew up in a family of preachers: his dad was a preacher, his uncle was a preacher, his grandfather was a preacher...so maybe he'd become a great preacher too. One day, a friend invited him to play at his house. Martin was...
51) RuPaul
52) Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs grew up surrounded by inventors, in sunny Silicon Valley, California. He and his friend Stephen Wozniak channeled their love of computers into their own inventions, building a successful company from Steve's garage. Steve thought that computers...
53) Albert Einstein
Little Albert grew up in Germany, where it took him four years to formulate his first word. He was fascinated by how objects worked and, although he didn't love school, he loved physics and math books. His brilliant mind contemplated space and time, and...
54) Andy Warhol
55) Charles Darwin
Although he didn't do very well at school, Charles Darwin was passionately curious about wildlife, humans, and plants. After a journey to South America, he developed his landmark theory: that all living things are related. Today, he is regarded as one...
56) Charles Dickens
58) Iris Apfel
59) Kamala Harris
In this book from the highly acclaimed Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the incredible life of Kamala Harris, the first woman, first Black person, and first South Asian American to be elected vice president of the USA.
Little Kamala used to accompany her parents to civil rights marches in California, strapped into her stroller so she wouldn't get lost. From an early age, she dreamed of becoming a lawyer to help people
60) Malala Yousafzai
When Malala was born in Mingora, Pakistan, her father was determined she would have every opportunity that a boy would have. She loved getting an education, but when a hateful regime came to power,...
61) Marilyn Monroe
62) Mary Anning
63) Megan Rapinoe
64) Michael Jordan
65) Michelle Obama
Young Michelle grew up on the South Side of Chicago in a close-knit family. She loved school, achieving A's, and worked hard to blaze trails at the universities of Princeton and Harvard. Then, at the beginning of her legal career, she met...
66) Mindy Kaling
68) Prince
From a young age, Prince was obsessed with music. Even though he couldn't read it, his talent—whether on piano, drums, guitar, or vocals—turned him into an icon. Combining funk, disco, soul, and almost every other genre out there, his songs...